This article is part of the FT’s Rebooting the Workplace series, asking prominent thinkers, policymakers and workplace experts to examine the biggest questions of the post-pandemic moment.
Even before coronavirus struck, the future of work looked uncertain: algorithms and artificial intelligence; shifting demographics and globalisation; the move to outsourcing and part-time work; the endless demand for new skills. The pandemic, the panicked lockdown, nervous shutdown and jittery reopening of businesses have exacerbated those challenges.
But the crisis has also accelerated changes that were already under way and triggered a radical rethink not just of where we work, but how. Two big transformations stand out.